The Psychic Circle: How to Get Started

How to Set up and Run a Circle

Article by Craig Hamilton-Parker about how to set up and run a psychic circle or Spiritualist Circle.

Ideally the best way to develop your mediumistic potential is by running a psychic circle with an advanced teaching medium The medium will be able to recognize your potential, encourage you to develop, reprimand you when necessary, and show you the techniques and methods needed to unfold your gifts. After sitting with your teacher for and average of 2 to 4 years, you will be ready to take your first steps as a fledgling medium in a Spiritualist church. If you are fortunate enough to have a medium mentor, then this book will serve as a useful complement to the techniques you are already learning. But good teaching mediums are hard to find, so most of you reading this book are either going to have to develop your gifts alone or form a small group with other like-minded, committed people who are prepared to work together.

A Circle is the best place to learn to become a psychic medium

It is far easier to develop your mediumistic abilities or your psychic reading skills if you can work with a group of between six and ten people with a common objective. You can encourage one another, learn from one another, have others to practice with, and aid each other’s progress. Working together will quicken the spiritual growth of each of you in ways that would be hard to achieve on your own, and your collective psychic energy will push you all forward. When people work together in a psychic circle not only do their individual spiritual energies combine but also the spirit guides and helpers from the next world add to this energy, so that the total energy available to the group becomes greater than the sum of its parts. In a good circle the air will buzz with powerful psychic energy.

The bedrock of Spiritualism is the home circle; from these circles developed the communities that formed into churches and eventually into the modern movement. They usually consisted of small groups of friends and family that sat with the common purpose of experiencing phenomena and developing mediumship. Some of the best evidence of survival and most startling physical phenomena came from these pioneer groups that sprang up after March 31st 1848 when two sisters, Margaretta and Catherine Fox, established intelligent communication with a spirit entity which had been responsible for noisy rapping in their home . Many of these first home circles had no medium conducting the proceedings.

Running your own Psychic Circle

I have already discussed the personality traits that are likely to be present in people with mediumistic potential. However, when running a psychic circle the most important factor is that everyone taking part are good friends. There must be complete sincerity and harmony of purpose among the sitters and each participant must be willing to give for the benefit of the whole. There is no place for self-serving egotists. Be very careful about who you invite, for it takes just one big ego to spoil it for everyone. I have met groups that have made great progress only to disband because one person let their new-found powers go to their head. So take time deciding who will sit in the group. It may be very disruptive to the energy to remove or introduce new people to the circle at a later date.

How often to sit?

Dedication and discipline are also important factors to consider when putting together a circle. Today everyone wants instant spiritual answers and expects the fruits of spiritual endeavor to be with them from the start. These things only come with hard work and perseverance. Be prepared to sit at the very least for one year and be strict with your sitting arrangements. If you agree to start at 7:00 pm start exactly on time. Do not tolerate lateness. Similarly, if you agree to sit every Wednesday or alternate Wednesdays or whatever day—then do exactly that. This is some of the most important spiritual work you are likely to do in this lifetime, so think of it as making an appointment with God—and don’t miss it or be late! Also remember that your spirit friends are making preparations to help your circle and they expect your dedication.

One of the best settings for mediumship is Stansted Hall at the Arthur Findlay CollegeThis picture shows our ‘Delphi Psychic Chat Community’ psychic seminar

The Psychic Circle Setting

Finding a suitable setting also requires careful planning. One of the sitters may have a spare room that you can use, though this may sometimes cause problems. For example, if the person is ill or home circumstances are disrupted for some reason then the whole group suffers. Also, if one person supplies the venue, occasionally that person may assume they “own” the group. There may also be a feeling of obligation to or from the host. Therefore, it is generally advisable to hire a space somewhere independent of the sitters and split the costs. Include a little extra in the fee to pay for refreshments, candles, flowers, etc. and ask for the weekly payment in advance so that if someone does not show up the others do not have to cover his or her share.

Check out the venue to ensure that it is quiet enough to do the meditations that will become an important part of the proceedings. Even low-level noise can be a distraction when you enter the silence of meditation. A group I ran for ten years used to meet in a wonderful fourteenth-century Tudor hotel, but eventually we had to find somewhere new when they opened a bar in one of the rooms below us. I remember us all sitting in meditation and overhearing a very drunk man below us pour his heart out to the bartender. He described in great detail his shocking sexual exploits interspersed with a volley of blue jokes. Our meditation ended in fits of hysterical laughter.

Friendly and Relaxed

Make your setting friendly and relaxed. At first, some of the sitters may be a little nervous about what lies ahead and may have unrealistic expectations or fears about what they are likely to encounter at the meetings. They may have visions of the medium spitting green slime at the ceiling. Of course this will not be the case, but if the environment is too stark, it may magnify their fears. If people are comfortable and relaxed it will be better for the group should real physical phenomena occur.

My very first psychic circle sat in pitch blackness and we would hear footsteps around the room. On one occasion the kettle boiled spontaneously, even though it was not plugged into the electrical outlet! Nonetheless, it was just too spooky a setting for some of the guests, and I decided to relocate the group—although it was handy having the spirit world prepare the water for tea. The eventual setting for my own circle came as a result of a Psychic School series I did for the BBC. At the time of writing this, we have a room in a country house that was designed as a replica of the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain. It is elaborately embellished with Persian onyx, magnificent copper and bronze, and hand-cut mosaic tiles. So keep looking for a good venue—eventually the right place will find you.

Sitting in the Dark

There’s no need for complete darkness, but subdued lighting or a red bulb is preferable for developing auric sight and mediumship. Some mediums like to work with no lighting and others prefer blue or red light. (Darkness and low red light are essential if ectoplasm is being produced, but the mental mediumship described in this book will work perfectly well in normal or low light.) So that your sitters feel at ease, it may be best to use candles at the start and move toward red light as the group feels comfortable with itself. You may want to include incense—our favorite is frankincense.

Summary about Running a Psychic Circle

In summary: Select your members carefully. When running a psychic circle make the group inspiring, exiting, and cheerful. Charge a fee. Find a place that has a feeling of good energy. Set goals for the funds raised to expand the sanctuary, and improve the circle environment with the addition of flowers, special candles, etc.. Everyone will enjoy this expanding process and any spare funds can be used toward an end-of-year party or donated to a group-determined charity.